Why I Never Saw The Northern Lights
I’m finally going back home and leaving Alaska. I’m still not totally sure why I came here anyway. But perusing my pro/con list, one of the top reasons that I did go was to see the Northern Lights, nature’s wondrous Christmas lights show. I thought that seeing that could justify the frigid conditions and great distance away from friends and family. So I went. As you remember the first few months were a bit rough. I was too busy getting burgled and apartment hunting to worry about the lights. And as winter quickly approached, I found myself ill prepared to cope. The colder the temperature the easier it is to see the lights, something about solar flares, or magic, I don’t really know. But the colder it got, the less time I wanted to stay outside. So I kept putting it off. I’ll see them tomorrow I thought. The hope of seeing the lights was keeping me there. If I saw the lights, then I could go home. So if I kept putting it off, it was incentive to stay. And then many weeks later, winter was over. And much later summer. The sun never went down, which made it rather difficult to see the lights. And I decided to move back home. Then winter again, but when I was ready to go outside in the cold and see the lights, the lights they didn’t show. Blame it on the mild winter (so far) or all the fog, but I’m going back home in a few days and the forecast for seeing the lights, isn’t good.
But I’m okay with that. I don’t regret not seeing the lights, it just means I’ll have to see them later. And I’m, if nothing, a patient person.
What Did Hippies Ever Do
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros came out this summer, but I missed them then and didn’t catch up until a very special episode of Community…
As you can see in this Tiny Desk Concert, there is a lot of them.
Maybe it’s because I’m excited about going home, but I particularly enjoy the track, Home. There’s something about it that feels so nice. Maybe it’s their total dedication to smiles and hugs.
When Did The Christian Kids Get Into Synth Pop
I think I missed the overnight success of Owl City. Before we start less you think I’ve lost any indie cred (which I’m saving up to buy me a Vespa) I’ve had his albums since like last year, even the first one before he signed to a major label. But somehow he got like super popular, like even the 8o year old dude at work knows who he is. Anyway here’s a live set from this summer….
Also since you can’t talk about Owl City without mentioning Postal Service. Postal Service, Postal Service, Postal Service. Done.
The unfortunately named Lights (how is Lights an abbreviation of Poxleitner), with the equally unfortunately titled album, The Listening, is touring with Owl City. I don’t know, is she popular? What are the kids saying on their youtubes and tweetys? She seems like an alright kid, pretty Canadian (apparently grew up in the Phils because her parents are missionaries) who is really into video games and comics.
Someone doesn’t like letting others embed their videos, so click here or watch acoustic version below.
Why The Table Is Full

Went out for some brunch at Pike’s today. I don’t know why they insist on filling the table with 4 different drinks (coffee, water, champagne and orange juice), but far be it for me to waste. The food was only so/so, really getting sick of buffets. But I prolly should’ve gone easy on the vasodilators (caffeine and alcohol).
How To Relax At Work

Not surprisingly we haven’t been very busy at work the past few days. So I’ve brought little projects to work on. One of the techs has been going through some serious family things, so I let her build this little guy. She worked on it most of the day. Superficially it prolly didn’t look good. It looks like I made her build a papercraft for me, like I was using company time to make arts and crafts for myself. But I look at it like she needed something to get her out of her head, so I allowed her to make this for me. It’s not like I forced her (note, I couldn’t force anyone to do anything at work). She got to relax and I got a monkey. Win/win. This is also why I would make a terrible boss.
What Souvenirs Should I Buy
How I Failed
How Much Have You Packed

The other Pharmacist is going home for the holidays, so I’ll be doing 10 hour days starting Thursday until next year. That’s why I’m trying to get all my packing done before then. I finished the upstairs this weekend, and should be done with the downstairs by the end of the week.

But amidst boxing up my clothes, I found an alarming high number of mismatched socks. I don’t know if I’ll box them up anyway and hope for the best, or just use them as cleaning rags.















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